New Delhi, January 12
Expressing solidarity with India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, Afghan President Hamid Karzai today joined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in castigating Pakistan for reneging on its commitment not to allow the misuse of its territory for terrorist activities.
Without directly naming Pakistan, the two leaders “called for full compliance with bilateral, multilateral and international obligations of states to prevent terrorism in any manner originating from territories under their control since terrorism emanates from the sanctuaries and training camps and the sustenance and support received by the terrorist groups’’.
Karzai, who arrived here last evening on his second visit to New Delhi within six months, held extensive talks with Singh on a wide range of issues, but the focus was on the Mumbai terror attacks, carried out by elements in Pakistan with the support of its official agencies.
Expressing deep anguish over the attack, Karzai is believed to have pointed out to the Indian Prime Minister how Pakistan’s notorious spy agency ISI was supporting terrorist elements in his war-torn nation.
The two leaders are understood to have noted with concern that the fledgling civilian government in Islamabad had failed to do anything against the ISI even when it became evident that the spy agency had masterminded last year’s July 7 suicide bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.
A joint statement issued at the end of Karzai’s talks with the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Singh conveyed to the Afghan leader that following the completion of the Zaranj-Delaram road project, a second major infrastructure project, the Pul-e-khumri to Kabul transmission line and the sub-station at Chimtala in northern Afghanistan would be handed over shortly by India to the Afghan government. The two leaders expressed satisfaction that the construction of the Afghan Parliament, a symbol of the common commitment of both countries to pluralism and democracy, had also begun.
Singh told Karzai that in order to help the people of Afghanistan in tiding over their current food crisis, India would gift Afghanistan 250,000 metric tonnes of wheat. The shipment would be effected immediately after the Afghan government had worked out its transportation arrangements. The Prime Minister also accepted an invitation from Karzai to visit Afghanistan.
